Audio-visuals: Studio creates sound merchandise

The studio enlisted interactive designer Martijn Mellema to convert a digital print of Electric Deluxe founder Speedy J into sound. Mellema turned a 3D wire-frame rendering of Speedy J’s face into data that could be translated into Morse code. The code was then sent from one computer through a speaker to a receiver installed on another computer, which translated the sound back into a 3D image – but one with glitches.

‘Record label Electric Deluxe and DJ and owner Speedy J have a long history of making music by experimenting with sound,’ Hilmer Thijs, partner at Studio Hands, told LS:N Global. ‘It was a fitting opportunity for us to experiment to design their merchandise.’

Remapping the image through sound to create a new print, and then silkscreen-printing it by hand onto shirts brought the digital and analogue processes together. For more designers embracing sound as a tool to create a new aesthetic, see our Sonic Landscapes design direction.